Euphagus cyanocephalus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~60%
Brewer's blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus) is a medium-sized New World blackbird. It is named after the ornithologist Thomas Mayo Brewer. Adult males have black plumage with an iridescent purple head and neck and glossy bluish-green highlights on the rest of the body. The feet and legs are black and the eye is bright yellow. The female is brownish-grey with slight hints of the male's iridescence. The female's eyes are dark brown, while the male's is bright yellow. Overall, they resemble the eastern member of the same genus, the rusty blackbird; Brewer's blackbird, however, has a shorter bill and the male's head is iridescent purple. This bird is often mistaken for the common grackle but has a shorter tail. The call is a sharp check which is also distinguishable. This bird is in a different family from the Eurasian blackbird.
Their breeding habitat is open and semi-open areas, often near water, across central and western North America. They are also very common in parking lots or around schools, and easily acclimate to the presence of people. They can live in low elevation, as low as below sea level in Southern California, and elevations as high as 8... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ciudad Juárez | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | Las Vegas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Tijuana | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Salt Lake City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Monterrey | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 10 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Brewer's Blackbird sighting in Sacramento on a given day, based on 2,158 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 61st most-seen of the 235 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March and October–December
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Brewer's Blackbird in Sacramento on a given day, against under 5% in July and August, the lowest months. Those are among Sacramento's wettest months, with about 75 mm of rain a month against almost none in July.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brewer's Blackbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 24
Of the 24 cities where we can rate Brewer's Blackbird sightings, Sacramento ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Ciudad Juárez (México, about 20%) and Las Vegas (United States, about 20%).
Same family: Icteridae
The closest relatives of the Brewer's Blackbird that you can see in Sacramento (family Icteridae, New World Blackbirds and Orioles) are Red-winged Blackbird (about 20%), Brown-headed Cowbird (about 10%) and Western Meadowlark (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brewer's Blackbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Sacramento (2,158 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
